Tuesday, 30 May 2017

He was born in Zamość, Lublin
district, Poland. In the late 1850s, he
left Zamość and lived Rava-Ruska, Kutne (Kutno), and Mlave (Mława) where he was a
private tutor of Russia, Polish, and German in wealthy homes. In 1866 he arrived in Warsaw where he became
acquainted with Yisroel-Meyer Vohlman, but he did not long remain there and set
out again on a wandering path. In 1870
he again arrived in Warsaw and worked for a time as a proofreader in Yitskhok
Goldman’s publishing house. He spent the
years 1873-1880 in Germany, and in 1880 he returned to Warsaw and was a
frequent visitor to assimilated and Enlightened circles, where he received recognition
for his knowledge of languages and his general wisdom. He worked his entire life thereafter within
the Warsaw Jewish community. His writing
activities began with short Hebrew stories on historical topics, as well as
with the novel Neder yiftaḥ,
sipur ahava (The vow of Yiftaḥ,
a love story) (Warsaw, 1870), 71 pp., with a preface (“Mikhtav tehila” [Letter
of praise]) by Y. M. Vohlman. Neder yiftaḥ appeared in a Judeo-German
translation by Y. Zeyfe from Kalish (Kalisz) (Puznów, 1972), 72 pp., and in
Levinzohn’s own translation into Russian (Warsaw, 1871), 72 pp. He also published in: Hamelits (The spectator) in Odessa; Hamagid (The preacher) in Lik; and Hatsfira (The siren) in Warsaw, where, among other items, he placed
the story “Al tavuzu laganav” (Do not blame the thief) and chapters of a
historical novel entitled Avotot haahava
(The bonds of love). In 1880, after a
series of years of silence, he renewed his literary activity and published a
comedy entitled Der kheyrem derabeynu
gershon oder di vayberishe kniplekh (The ban of Rabbi Gershon or the wives’
nest-eggs), “a theatrical piece in five acts, written in verse; the story
transpires in a small town in Lesser Poland” (Warsaw: Yoysef Lebenzohn, 1880),
48 pp., second printing (1882). A comedy
entitled Di vaybershe kniplekh (The
wives’ nest eggs) had already been published in Vilna in 1873 (44 pp.) with the
author’s name given as “Myvm” (Meyer-Yisroel Vohlman’s initials) and in Russian
as “I. M. Volman.” It had great success
with audiences and soon appeared in a second printing. In the notes to the Vilna edition of the
comedy, we find: “The comedy takes place in Surban, a small town in Galicia.” If the two editions of the comedy belong to
two different authors (Vohlman and Ludvig Levinzohn) or to one of the two, and
if to one—who was the original author and who the translator—this has not been
clarified until now. Levinzohn’s comedy
was later—on December 14, 1928—revived in a performance by the Vilna Troupe in
Warsaw (under the direction of Dovid Herman) and was again a hit with
audiences. Levinzohn published in Y. L.
Perets’s Di yudishe biblyotek (The
Yiddish library) (Warsaw, 1891) translations from Polish and German, among
them: Eliza Orzeszkowa, “Gedalia”
(issue 1, pp. 101-36). He also
translated treatises on popular science.
He died in Warsaw. He left behind
in manuscript the “Komedye in ferzen in 4 akten” (Comedy in verse in four acts)
entitled Shlomke in fas (Shlomke in a
barrel), as well as subsequent chapters of his novel Avotot haahava. “Di
vaybershe kniplekh which played in Hassidic environs is a comedy that
excels in its simplicity, and the action develops within itself. Everything that takes place here is natural,
alive—it is no wonder that it aroused enthusiasm and was performed for many
years.” (B. Gorin, Geshikhte fun yidishn
teater [History of Yiddish theater], vol. 1 [New York, 1918], pp. 125-27)

Monday, 29 May 2017

He was born in Talsen (Talsi), Latvia,
the son of the rabbi of the city. He was
active in the Revisionist Zionist movement in Riga and chairman of Betar for
Latvia and Lithuania. He took part in
the fighting of the Jewish Brigade against the Germans during WWII and later
was active in “Briḥa”
(underground effort to help Holocaust survivors make their way from Europe to
the land of Israel). He wrote articles
for Ovntpost (Evening mail) in Riga
(1932), and for a time he served also as its editor. He was as well a contributor to Moment (Moment) in Warsaw and to various
Revisionist publications in Yiddish.
From 1939 he was writing for and co-editing Hamashkif (The spectator) and the principal contributor to Maariv (Evening) in Tel Aviv. In the remembrance volume, Yahadut latviya (Judaism in Latvia) (Tel
Aviv, 1953), pp. 158-61, he placed an article on the Revisionist Zionist
movement in Latvia. He died in Tel Aviv.

He was a publisher, born in Vilkovishki
(Vilkaviškis),
Lithuania. In 1880 he moved to Warsaw,
and in 1886 he took over (with his brother Elyohu-Zeb) their father’s
publishing house under the name “Brider Levin-Epshteyn” (Brothers
Levin-Epshteyn). Aside from specially
ordered religious works, they also published secular Yiddish books. From 1890 Leyvi ran the press himself, and in
1914 he founded the Yiddish “Universal Library” in line with the example of “Reklam”
editions in German and published translations of Jack London, Balzac, Heinrich
Heine, Lev Tolstoy, and Friedrich Hebbel—altogether nine works. In 1920 he contributed to the publication of the
weekly newspaper Ilustrirte velt
(Illustrated world) in Warsaw. Over the
years 1921-1923, he developed a particularly large publishing venture and
brought out a series of original works in translation. Leyvi’s brother ELYOHU-ZEV (ELYAHU-ZEEV
LEVIN-EPSHTEYN) (born Vilkaviškis, July 22, 1963-July 18, 1932) settled in Reḥovot,
Israel in 1890. In 1932 he published Zikhronotai (My memoirs).

He was born in Svisloch (Svislovits),
Byelorussia. He attended religious
elementary school and yeshiva. He later
turned his attention to secular subject matter, graduating from a senior high
school in Minsk and going on to study at the Universities of Königsberg and
Berlin and receiving his doctor of philosophy degree. He joined the Ḥoveve-tsiyon (Lovers of Zion) movement in Minsk, while he
was a student there, and he was later influenced by Aḥad Haam’s idea of a
“Merkaz ruḥani” (Spiritual center) in the land of Israel. In his student years in Berlin, he founded
(together with Leo Motzkin) the union of Jewish students in Russia. After completing his university studies, he
lived for several years in Warsaw, where he worked for Aḥiasef publishing house
and compiled on commission for the press an anthology of Hebrew poetry entitled
Shirat yisrael,mivḥar hashira haivrit mikadmuta vead haet
haaḥarona (Poetry of Israel, a selection of Hebrew poems from the
beginning to the latest era) (Warsaw, 1896), 96 pp. Over the years 1896-1898, he served as crown
rabbi in Grodno and Ekaterinoslav. In
1904 the Reform synagogue of the followers of the Jewish Enlightenment in
Vilna—Taharat Hakodesh—accepted him as rabbi and preacher. Levin was a brilliant speaker, and his
sermons always attracted a large crowd, quickly making him well-known and
beloved in Vilna Zionist-inclined circles.
In 1906 he was elected on the national list as a deputy from Vilna to
the first State Duma. Afterward, as the
Tsarist reaction dispersed the Duma, Levin was among the deputies who signed
the historic Viborg appeal. The Black Hundreds,
who at that time murdered the Jewish deputy cadets, Grigori Iollos and Mikhail
Herzenstein, had him on their list, but he saw that the time was right to make
his escape to Berlin. He began writing
in Hebrew during his period in Warsaw. He
published his first journalistic articles in Hamagid (The preacher). Over
the years 1900-1902, he wrote for Hashiloaḥ
(The shiloah) a monthly survey of Jewish life around the world. In 1903 he published articles in Fraynd (Friend) in St. Petersburg, and
he later contributed work to Di naye velt
(The new world) and after the 1905 Revolution to the weekly newspaper Dos yudishe folk (The Jewish people)
which was founded by the Zionist Organization on his initiative in Vilna. In 1906 he was working at a position in the Benevolent
Society for German Jewry in Berlin.
Theoretically well-versed with technology from his years in senior high
school, he was especially drawn to the plan which originated at that time in
Zionist circles in Berlin to create a technical school in Haifa. In the interest of such a plan, in late 1906
he made his first trip to the United States, and his efforts provided
considerably for the rise of this technical school in Haifa. At the tenth Zionist congress in 1911, he was
elected to the Action Committee, and from that point he became a leading force
in the general Zionist movement. He
spent the years of WWI in America and Canada.
In addition to his Zionist party work, in this period he often published
journalistic articles and essays in Yiddish newspapers in New York, especiually
in Di varhayt (The truth). Together with Y. D. Berkovitsh, he edited the
journal Hatoran (The duty officer) in
New York, and he published in book form: In
milkhome-tsaytn, bleter fun a tog-bukh (In wartime, pages from a diary),
vol. 1 (New York, 1915), 317 pp., vol. 2 (New York, 1917), 316 pp. In the first volume, entitled “Undzer eygene
milkhome” (Our own war), he dealt with the language fight which arose around
the technical school. In 1920 he became
director of the Jewish Agency. Levin was
one of the most important leaders in the Jewish National Fund, and on his assignments
over the course of several years he traveled throughout Western Europe, North
and South America, and South Africa.
Levin’s own sayings and anecdotes and those of his that were retold by
others belong to the pearls of Jewish humor.
He was a sharp polemicist in writing and in speech. From 1924 he was a permanent resident of
Haifa, where from time to time he published articles in the Hebrew press. He worked for the publisher Devir, and he
cooperated with all the campaigns on behalf of the technical school in Haifa
and for the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
From September 1928 he published for several years in Forverts (Forward): “Zikhroynes fun mayn
lebn” (Memoirs of my life), which included, in addition to his own experiences
and efforts, the most important national and social events in Jewish life from
the last decade of the nineteenth century.
This work also appeared in Hebrew as Mizikhronot
ḥayai (From the memories of my life) (Tel Aviv:
Devir, 1935-1942), 4 vols. It has also
been published in English translation as The
Arena (New York, 1932), 305 pp.[1] A German translation also appeared in
Berlin. He died in Haifa.

[1] Translator’s note.
This is actually the title of the first part of Levin’s autobiography. Two further parts, equally long, followed. They were all published as Forward from Exile: The Autobiography of
Shmarya Levin (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1967),
3 vols.(JAF)

Sunday, 28 May 2017

He came from Bialystok, Russian Poland. He lived in Odessa, Warsaw, and Lodz. He was a well-known wedding entertainer in
his day. He published poetry, parodies,
and Zionist motifs (mainly under the pen name Shakhal or “Der badkhn oys byalistok”
[The entertainer from Bialystok]) in: Kol
mevaser (Herald) in Odessa; Hamagid
(The preacher) in Lik; M. Spektor’s Dos viderkol
(The echo) in Warsaw, some of which were later included in his poetry pamphlets:
Shire hazman, oder folks-lieder (Poems
of the times, or popular poetry) (Warsaw, 1901), 28 pp.; and Shire khayim oder finef lebens-lieder
(Poems of life or five life poems) (Warsaw, 1901), 32 pp. The latter included: “Der gortn” (The garden),
“Di aristokratye” (The aristocracy), “Di kotsh” (The coach), “Az men ken nit,
men vayst nit, nemt men zikh nit unter” (If you don’t recognize or know it, you
don’t undertake it), and “Men muz kukn un shvaygn shitl” (One must look and
remain silent). The last two of these
were sung as folk songs.

The brother of Meshulem Levin, he
was born in Loyvitsh (Lovich, Łowicz), Warsaw district, Poland. He attended religious primary school,
yeshiva, and later the Vilna teachers’ course of study run by Tarbut and the teachers’
course run by Tsisho (Central Jewish School Organization); he worked as a
teacher in the secular Jewish schools in Łowicz and Warsaw. He was a cofounder of the Labor Zionist
organization and a member of the Jewish community administration in Łowicz. From 1928 he was publishing poetry in: Lodzer folksblat (Lodz people’s
newspaper); and Literarishe bleter
(Literary leaves), Arbeter-tsaytung
(Workers’ newspaper), and Dos vort
(The word) in Warsaw; among others. During
the Nazi occupation, he was confined in the Lodz ghetto, from where he was
evacuated in 1944 to Auschwitz and murdered there.

Source:
Information from his brother, Meshulem, in Paris, and from N. Mayzil.

He was born in Konskivolye
(Konskowola), Lublin district, Poland.
Until age sixteen he attended religious elementary school, synagogue
study hall, and yeshiva. The poverty in
his home was extreme and the young Shmuel suffered enormously for just a piece
of bread: he sold green apples on the railway line between Pulav (Pulawy) and
Lublin, was a journeyman for a tradesman, went homeless in a variety of cities
in Poland and Russia—as far away as Bukhara—and he suffered tuberculosis from
childhood until his thirties. In 1912 he
left for Argentina, and there he would become a colonist. A week before WWI broke out, he returned to
Poland. In 1920 he was sent off to
Berlin, and in 1934, after Hitler came to power, he had to flee from
there. He wandered with his family
through Europe for two years, until they reached the United States in
1936. He began writing early in Life,
but he only first published in 1917 in Lubliner
togblat (Lublin daily newspaper).
From then on, he contributed work to: Di tsayt (The times) in Kovno; Folks-tsaytung
(People’s newspaper), Bikher-velt
(Book world), and Hatekufa (The
epoch) in Warsaw; Fraye shriftn (Free
writings) in Berlin); Dos naye leben
(The new life), Di tsukunft (The
future), Morgn-tsaytung (Morning
newspaper), Tog (Day), Ikuf (IKUF [= Jewish cultural association]),
and Hamer (Hammer) in New York; Di prese (The press) in Buenos Aires; Hamburger Familienblatt (Hamburg family
newspaper); L’univers (The universe);
and Forum; among others. In book form: A sreyfe, drama in dray aktn (A fire, drama in three acts) (Warsaw:
Tsentral-farlag, 1919), 85 pp.; Far zind,
drama in dray aktn (For sins, drama in three acts) (Warsaw:
Tsentral-farlag, 1919), 73 pp.; Gezang
fun doyres, roman (Song of generation, a novel) (Warsaw: Brzhoza,
1928), 550 pp.; Kegn himl (Against
heaven), stories (Warsaw: Brzhoza, 1935), 130 pp.; In goles, drame in 5 aktn mit an epilog
(In the diaspora, drama in five acts with an epilogue) (Warsaw: Brzhoza,
1935), 132 pp. (confiscated by the Polish government); Khezyoynes (Visions), a poem (New York: Biderman, 1941), 80 pp.; Tsvishn tsvey thomen, trilogye (Between
two abysses, trilogy) (Buenos Aires, 1959), vol. 1, 437 pp.; Shvarts berg un bloye toln (Dark
mountains and blue valleys), vol. 2 (Buenos Aires, 1962), 368 pp.; Volkn-gedrang (Rush of clouds) (Tel
Aviv: Hamenorah, 1970), 394 pp.[1]Tsurik in der heym (Back home) (New York: Shulzinger, 1980), 262
pp. In German translation: Chassidische Legende (Hassidic legends),
trans. Arno Nadel, with woodcuts by
Y. Budko (Berlin: Rathenau
& Horodisch, 1925), 84 pp., three printings; Dämonen des Blutes (Demons of the blood), trans. R. Beatus (Berlin:
Der Syndikalist, 1926), 151 pp.; Zeitwende,
Roman (Turning point, a novel) (Berlin: Soncino Society, 1926), 331 pp.; Gesichte (Visions), poetry in blank
verse (Berlin: Horodisch &
Marx, 1928), 127 pp.; Und er kehrte heim,
Roman (And he returned home, a novel) (Vienna-Jerusalem: R. Löwit, 1936),
350 pp., with a preface by Franz Werfel—in Yiddish the novel was known as Der hoyfzinger (The court singer) (New
York: Morgn-zhurnal, 1936). In English
translation: The Impatient Sages, a
Legend (New York, 1948), 79 pp., translated by his son Jeremiah Lewin and
with woodcuts by Joseph Budko. In
addition, we have Levin’s translation from the Russian: G. A. Gurev, Darvinizm un ateizm (Darwinism and
atheism) (New York, 1931), 226 pp. Being
prepared for publication as well is Dov Sadan’s Hebrew translation of Chassidische Legende. Levin wrote a great deal and quickly acquired
a name in the literary world, both the non-Jewish and Jewish worlds. Some of his writings were published in
translation directly from manuscript and only later in Yiddish. He was translated into Polish, German,
English, French, Dutch, and Hebrew. Many
words of praise have been enunciated by Franz Werfel, Rudolf Rocker, and
others. In Nazi Germany, they openly
burned his German-language books. He
spent his last years in New York, all but completely forgotten. He interacted almost not at all among other
people, but he did not cease writing. He
died in the Bronx, New York. He left in
his bequest in manuscript: novels, plays, and stories; and his widow Miriam Lewin
published them bit by bit. She also
translated his books into German. Among
the surviving, unpublished dramas were: “In goles,” “Gekroynt vert ashmoday”
(Ashmodai is crowned), “Kdoyshim kemfn” (The saintly ones fight on), “Der rebns
gese” (The rebbe’s breed), “Vunder-erd” (Wonder land), and “A yid an akshn” (An
obstinate man). His trilogy is now being
translated into French by Arnold Mandel, with the first volume already in
production. “This is a book,” wrote
Shmuel Niger, “that lives with what should
be, not just with what exists or once existed. It is a dream of the future, which clings to
the deepest roots of the past and flutters among the broadest wings of the
present. It lights up legends and dreams
in ideals. This is what Perets sought so
fervently and thirstily. It is, in fact,
a continuation of Perets’s idealism, of Perets’s ethical romanticism, an echo
of old Reb Shloyme’s song in the ‘golden chain.’” “Levin drained the cup of Jewish fate,” noted
Franz Werfel, “of the Jewish mission to the very bottom, and so was his talent
so great that it dealt with the problem not with a writing voice. Not with laments, not with clenched fists did
he make accusations, no! His tone was
agreeably quiet. And his hand which
leads the reader—strong and sure and gentle.”

[1] Translator’s note.
There is a full English translation by Joseph Leftwich in three parts: Between Two Abysses, Dark Mountains and Blue Valleys, and Shining through the Clouds (New York:
Cornwall Books, 1988); and Hebrew translation by Shimshon Meltser, Ben shene tehomot (Between two abysses)
(Tel Aviv: Hamenorah, 1970). (JAF)

He was born in Vilkovishki (Vilkaviškis),
Kovno district, Lithuania. He was
orphaned in his youth. He attended
religious elementary school until age twelve.
He graduated from the Vilna teachers’ institute in 1908, and for a time
he worked as a teacher in a Russian state school in Cherikov, Byelorussia. In 1913 he received his doctoral degree in
philosophy and law from the University of Geneva. After WWI he moved to Kovno where he was an
active leader in secular Jewish schools and culture, a member of the psychology
and pedagogy section of YIVO, and a cofounder of the Kultur-lige (Culture
League), the Jewish middle school, and the people’s university. Over the years 1930-1939, he was director of
the Jewish commercial high school in Kovno.
He published articles on psychological and pedagogical issues in: Folksblat (People’s newspaper) in Kovno;
and Vilner tog (Vilna day); among
other serials. In the Shriftn far psikhologye un pedagogye (Writings on
psychology and pedagogy) (Vilna) 1 (1933), he published his essay: “Di
psikhologye fun leyenen” (The psychology of reading), pp. 143-72. Together with Y. Mark, Dr. M. Sudarski, and
others, he edited the publication Der veg
tsu der yidisher visnshaft (The path to Jewish scholarship); and alone he
edited 10 yor yidishe komerts-shul in
kovne (Ten years of the Jewish commercial school in Kovno) (1936), 96
pp. He was murdered by the Nazis during
the great Aktion of October 28, 1941 in Kovno.

He was born in Belinets (Belynichi),
Mohilev (Mogilev) district, Byelorussia, the son of a Talmud instructor. In his youth he worked as a bookbinder and
became involved in the revolutionary movement.
After the founding of the Bund in 1897, he became an active
Bundist. For many he worked with the
secret publisher of the party. He later
worked as a printer for the legal Bundist newspapers Folks-tsaytung (People’s newspaper) and Hofnung (Hope) in Vilna (1906-1907). In 1910 he was arrested in Vilna and exiled to
Siberia, and from there he made his way in 1912 to the United States. After the Russian revolution of 1917-1918, he
joined the Communists. He published a
book of memoirs entitled Untererdishe
kemfer (Underground fighter), edited with an introduction by Moyshe Katz
(New York, 1946), 381 pp. He died in New
York.

He was born in Vilna,
Lithuania. Until 1919 he was a private
tutor in Vilna, and he then settled in Lomzhe. Until the age of seventy-six, he lived as an
assimilated Jew, but in 1932 under the influence of rising anti-Semitism, he
became active in the Zionist movement.
He was a member of the editorial board of Lomzher shtime (Voice of Lomzhe) (1923-1938), in which, aside from
articles about popular science, he also published poems, fables, and
translations from German and Russian (also under the pen name Halevi). He also wrote for Dos naye leben (The new life) in Bialystok and Voliner shtime (Voice of Volhynia), as well as for a series of
provincial Yiddish newspapers. He died
in Lomzhe.

She was born in Zhitomir,
Ukraine. She survived the pogroms of
1918-1920 in a children’s home for war orphans.
In 1922 she arrived in New York where she attended an English elementary
school, Workmen’s Circle middle school, and the Jewish teachers’ seminary. She graduated in 1933 from Hunter College and
went on to study at the Art Student League in New York where she specialized in
woven tapestries (several of which were on display at the annual exhibition of
the League in 1962). For a time she
worked as a typist for Dr. Chaim Zhitlovsky, later as a secretary for the
American division of YIVO. Over the
years 1934-1952, she was editorial secretary for Tog (Day) in New York, where she published—in addition to articles
and music reviews—translations from English and in the English section from the
newspaper. She also translated a number
of newspaper novels. She ran the Sunday
women’s page (1956-1957) of Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(Day-morning journal). She also
contributed articles and stories to Eynikeyt
(Unity) (1947-1952) and Yidishe kultur
(Jewish culture)—in New York—among others.
Over the years 1953-1957, she wrote Yiddish programs for the radio
station WEVD and for a English-language Jewish television program. From 1958 she was working as administrative secretary
for the Committee for Yiddish in high schools in New York. She also published under such pen names as:
Evelyn Goldin and Eva Gamelet. She was
last living in New York.

Saturday, 27 May 2017

He was born in Kaidanov,
Byelorussia. He attended religious
elementary school, synagogue study chamber, and later a high school. He represented the Labor Zionists at Zionist
congresses. He was a member of the
central committee of the Labor Zionists in France and of the Zionists’ “action
committee.” In the years of the Nazi
occupation of France, he played a leading role in the underground resistance
movement. He initiated the action that
saved thousands of Jewish children from the Nazi realm and brought them to
Switzerland and Italy. He was cofounder
of a number of Jewish institutions in Paris (Federation of Jewish Communities, Yiddish-Hebrew
Teachers’ Seminary, and the Jewish Community Association, among others). His journalistic work began in the Labor
Zionist press in Lithuania and Poland, and from 1918 with Haynt (Today) in Warsaw. He
was a contributor to the illegal Labor Zionist press in the underground in
France and the first editor of Unzer vort
(Our word) in Paris (1944-1946). His
work was also published in: Dos vort
(The word) in Warsaw; Parizer haynt
(Paris today) and Kiem (Existence) in
Paris. He was last living in Paris, a
member of the editorial board of Unzer vort.

She was a teacher in a Jewish public
school in Minsk and other cities of Byelorussia. With A. Lasker, she compiled Unzer sotsyalistishe heym (Our socialist
home), a textbook (Minsk, 1932), 162 pp.
Biographical details about her remain unknown.

Friday, 26 May 2017

The brother of Yitskhok-Meyer Levin,
he was born in Ger, near Warsaw, Poland.
Until 1937 he was among the top leaders in Agudat Yisrael in Poland,
later settling in Israel, where he served as one of the main leaders in the
Orthodox educational movement. From 1925
he contributed to the Orthodox press in Poland, Israel, and other
countries. He contributed to: Dos yudishe togblat (The Jewish daily
newspaper) in Warsaw; Der idisher
arbayter (The Jewish worker), Beys
yankev zhurnal (Beys Yankev journal), and Ortodoksishe yugend-bleter (Orthodox youth pages)—in Lodz-Warsaw;
and elsewhere. He was editor of the
daily newspaper Hamodia (The herald)
in Jerusalem and of the monthly Bet yaakov
(Bet Yaakov) in Tel Aviv. He also placed
work in: Dos yudishe vort (The Jewish
word) in New York; Di idishe vokh
(The Jewish week) in London; and elsewhere.
He also wrote under such pen names as: P. Cohen, Pinkhes, Yude Sefer, and
Hakohen. He died in Jerusalem.

He was born in Mikhailishok (Mikališkis),
Vilna region, to a father who was a ritual slaughterer. He attended religious elementary schools and
the yeshivas of Smargon (Smorgon), Ilye (Ilya), and Orshe (Orshi). In 1900 he came to the United States and settled
in Chelsea, near Boston, where he attended an English school. In 1905 he became an active member of the
American Socialist Party and secretary of the Jewish divisions of the Socialist
Party in Massachusetts. After the 1919
split in the Socialist Party, he went with the leftists. He began journalistic activities with Forverts (Forward) in New York, in which
around 1905 he published notices about the socialist labor movement in
Massachusetts. He later published
articles about community and political life in Boston. In 1909 he became assistant representative
for the Boston division of Forverts
and the official Boston correspondent for the newspaper. In 1920 (using the pen name Joe Kramer) he
sent in correspondence pieces from Boston to the leftist weekly newspaper Der emes (The truth) in New York. In 1922 he became representative of the New
York-based Frayhayt (Freedom) from
Boston, and from that point on he was linked with this newspaper, as well as
with Morgn-frayhayt (Morning
freedom). His books include: 50 yor forverts,di rol fun forverts in dem idishn lebn (Fifty years at the Forverts, the role of the Forverts in Jewish life) (New York,
1948), 64 pp.; Heldn fun folk,biografyes fun barimte amerikaner frayhayts-kemfer,
historishe pasirungen (Heroes of the people, biographies of important
American freedom fighters, historical events) (New York, 1956), 256 pp.; Kapitlen fun mayn lebn, zikhroynes
(Chapters from my life, memoirs) (New York, 1971), 288 pp. His pen names: Shmuel-Dovid, Mikhailishok,
and V. Seldin. He died in New York.

He was born in Minsk, Byelorussia,
into a laboring family. He attended
religious elementary school and later a high school; in 1927 he graduated from
the Yiddish department of the literature faculty of the Second Moscow State
University. He later worked as a teacher
of history and literature in Jewish middle schools in Homel (Gomel) and Minsk,
and later at the theater school of the Moscow Yiddish State Theater, while at
the same time contributing to: Oktyabr
(October), Shtern (Star), Yunger arbeter (Young worker), and Yunger leninyets (Young Leninist)—in Minsk;
Shtern in Kharkov; Birobidzhaner shtern (Birobidzhan star);
and other serials. He was an editor and internal
contributor to Der emes (The truth)
and to the publishing house of “Der emes” in Moscow, for which he translated a
number of textbooks, among other items: N. Ribkin, Zamlung ufgabes af geometrye far der mitlshul (Collection of
problems in geometry for the middle school); I. I. Gukovski and O. V.
Trakhtenberg, Di epokhe fun feodalizm, lernbukh
far mitlshul (The era of feudalism, textbook for middle school [original: Istoriia epokha feodalizma, uchebnik dli︠a︡
srednei shkoly) (Moscow: Emes, 1934), 347 pp.; A. S. Barkov, Fizishe geografye (Physical geography);
and the five-volume Geshikhte fun fss”r
(History of the USSR [original: Historiia
SSSR]), ed. A. M. Pankratova (Moscow: Emes, 1941-); among other works. Together with Kh. Ayzman, he wrote the
pamphlet Gezerd un internatsyonale
kinder-dertsiung (Gezerd [All-Union
Association for the Agricultural Settlement of Jewish Workers in the USSR]
and international children’s education) (Moscow, 1930), 28 pp. As a lieutenant he took part in the battles
against the Nazis on all fronts—from Moscow to Berlin and he was decorated
medals and awards. In 1945 and early
1946 he was in the army in the Far East.
Thereafter, until the liquidation of Yiddish culture, he contributed to Eynikeyt (Unity) in Moscow and to Emes
publishers. He published reviews of
books and works on the Yiddish stage, and he was active participant in Yiddish
cultural life in Moscow. He was treasured
as an editor, even by the likes of Dovid Bergelson whose novel Bayn dnyepr (By the Dnieper) Levin
edited. For the Moscow Yiddish theater,
he translated plays by Molière and Goldoni.
Among his other literary translations: Maxim Gorky, Dos lebn fun klim samgin (The life of Klim Sangin [original: Zhizn’ Klima Sangina]); Lion
Feuchtwanger, Di mishpokhe openhaym
(The family Oppenheim [original: Die Geschwister
Oppenheim]). When the
anti-fascist committee and the journal Eynikeyt
were closed down, he worked for a time as an editor at the publisher “Fizkul’tura
i sport” (Physical culture and sport). He
was arrested on September 16, 1949 and was shot on November 23, 1950 in a camp.

He was born near Kobrin, Grodno
district, Russian Poland. He was a
religious judge in Kobrin, Ivenits (Iwieniec), and other towns. From 1897 until WWI, he was a preacher
initially in Vilna and later in Warsaw.
In 1914 he returned to Kobrin. He
authored a number of religious texts in older Yiddish. Among his writings: Binyan yerusholayim (Building up of Jerusalem), “tales from the
Jerusalem Talmud that are not carried in the Ein Yaakov” (Warsaw, 1864); Asara
maamarot (Ten essays) (Königsberg-Kobrin, 1864), 22 pp.; Kol demama daka (A small voice of
silence) (Pyetrikov, 1905), 48 pp.; Mashieḥ
ben yosef (The Messiah, son of Joseph) (Pyetrikov, 1905), 32 pp. In Yiddish: Seyfer am sgule (A chosen people), “in this volume will be
demonstrated with genuine proofs based on Thirteen Principles in which a Jew
must believe. The author has written
this text, drawn from his other works, in Yiddish to show grace to all wives
and children, who now need that their father heed the health of the house that
it remain firmly along the lines of Torah and faith” (Warsaw, 1889), 124 pp.; Der idishe luft balon, migdal haporeaḥ
beavir (The Jewish air balloon), with a preface in Hebrew, improved with
notes by Ben-Tsien Alfes (Warsaw, 1912), 40 pp.; Emes veemune (Truth and belief) (Warsaw, 1908), 47 pp. All of these religious texts and booklets
were signed “Noyekh-Khayim Ben-Moyshe from Kobrin,” and may be found now at the
Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
He died in Kobrin.

He was born in Loyvitsh (Lovich, Łowicz),
Warsaw district, Poland. He was a
grandson of the Polish Jewish musician Shloyme-Arn Shtift and a nephew of the
composer and playwright Herman Shtift.
He attended religious primary school and a Polish Jewish high school in
Lodz, later studying at a conservatory and university in Nancy, France, where
(in 1928) he graduated as a lawyer. He
then returned to Lodz, and in 1937 once again came and settled in France. He was a member of the central committee of
the Labor Zionist-Hitaḥdut
(unity) party in France, a member of the central committee of the Jewish
community federation, and a member of the executive of the Parisian bureau of
the World Jewish Culture Congress, among other posts. He began writing articles on economic issues
in the monthly Der soykher (The merchant) in Lodz (1934-1935). From 1946 he was a regular contributor to the
daily newspaper Unzer vort (Our word) in Paris, in which he was also in charge
of a column entitled “Yuridishe opteylung” (Legal department). He contributed to: Arbeter-vort (Workers’
word) and Kultur-yedies (Cultural information) in Paris (1949-1951); Yivo-bleter
(Pages from YIVO) in New York (1952), pp. 364-68; Almanakh fun yidishe shrayber
(Almanac of Yiddish writers) (Paris) 1 (1955), an enlarged treatment of Shtift;
“Der natsyonaler oyfn fun unzer negine” (The ethnic manner of our music), Almanakh
fun yidishe shrayber 2 (1960); and Ilustrirte literarishe bleter (Illustrated
literary leaves) (Buenos Aires); among others.
He wrote the music for a number of poems by Yiddish poets. His cantata to a text by Dr. M.
Dvorzhetski (Mark Dvorzetsky), “Hayinu keḥolemim” (We were like dreamers) was performed in
1953 in Paris at the Palais de Chaillot.
His compositions “Khsidishe rapsodye” (Hassidic rhapsody) and “Elegye
nokhn shtetl” (Elegy for a town) were recorded on record albums. He served as editor of Tygodnik handlowy (Business week) in Lodz (1935); co-editor of Almanakh fun yidishe shrayber (Paris,
1955). He was last living in Paris.

He was born in a town near Kovno,
Lithuanian, into a rabbinical household.
He attended religious elementary school and yeshivas. In 1890 he came to Canada and until 1903 was
a school teacher in the Talmud Torah of Rabbi M. A. Oshinski. At the same time, he was a Zionist
orator. He worked as a teacher and later
an administrator of the Montreal Talmud Torah.
Over the years 1907-1912, he published (under the pen name Ish Naami) in
Keneder older (Canadian eagle) in
Montreal a series of articles “Vegn kinder-dertsiung” (On children’s education)
and on the “Sod fun undzer eksistents” (Secret of our existence). He was the author of Kinder ertsiung bay iden, a historishe nokhforshung (Children’s
education with Jews, a historical study) (Montreal, 1910), 128 pp., with a Hebrew
preface by the author and prefaces by Rabbi Yofe, A. Sh. Isaacs from New York,
Rabbi Tsvi Hakohen from Montreal, Ruvn Brainin, and others. He died in Pittsburgh.

He was born in Warsaw, Poland. Over the years 1918-1920, he studied
humanities at Warsaw University. He was
politically active initially with the left Labor Zionists, later with the
Communist Party. From late 1920 until
the summer of 1928, he lived in the land of Israel. He was a cofounder of the local Communist
Party and its representative at the Gezerd (All-Union
Association for the Agricultural Settlement of Jewish Workers in the USSR)
in Moscow in 1925. When the British
police subsequently deported him from Israel, he lived in Warsaw (ca.
1935). He was a member of the central
bureau of the Polish Communist Party and among the leadership of the leftist
Jewish writers’ group. He was arrested
and sentenced to a long prison term. At
the time of the German invasion of Poland (September 1939), he escaped from Rawicz Prison, made his way to Bialystok where until June 1941 he was
active in the union of former Polish prisoners and a proofreader for the Russian-language
newspaper for the railway; he later lived for a short time in a collective farm
in Novouzensk. He went on to live in
Tashkent, where he worked in a coal mine in Karaganda. He was a contributor and co-editor of
Yiddish-language Communist publications in Israel. He authored the pamphlets: Der tsienizm, tsu der 17tn kongres
(Zionism, at the seventeenth congress) (Lemberg, 1931), 74 pp., using the
pseudonym M. Yakubovitsh; Der nayer
tsienistisher tararam un zayn badaytung (The latest Zionist fuss and its
significance) (Pyetrikov, 1933), 63 pp., using the pseudonym H. Itskovitsh; Di vortslen fun peretses shafn, a pruv fun a
marksistisher baloykhtung (The roots of Perets’s creative work, an effort at
a Marxist elucidation) (Warsaw, 1934), 110 pp., using the pseudonym P.
Diner. He translated from Russian and
German a series of works by Karl Marx and others. There are two versions of the story of how he
died: (1) that he died by drowning in the coal mine in Karaganda; and (2, the
official story) that he drowned while standing guard by a river in Leninabad,
serving as a soldier in a labor battalion.
Portions of his translations (with M. Mirsky) of the second volume of
Marx’s Kapital and of Kant’s Prolegomena and The Critique of Pure Reason were saved and may be found in the Jewish
Historical Institute in Warsaw. He also
published under such pen names as: Moyshe Batlan, Levi Doresman, Sh. Dorman, P.
Diner, and P. Sheli.

Thursday, 25 May 2017

He was born in Vilna, Lithuania,
into a family of a poor glazier. During
the years of WWI, he wandered homeless through Russia, before returning to
Vilna. In 1922 he graduated from the
seven-class secular, Jewish public school of L. Gurevich, worked for a time as
a touch-up man in a photography studio, and later (in 1928) graduated from the
Vladimir Medem Teachers’ Seminary. Until
1934 he worked as a teacher in Jewish secular schools in the Vilna region, and
later the police (because of his revolutionary activities) revoked his right to
continue teaching. From his early youth
he was blessed with a painter’s talent, and he thus took up painting portraits,
drawing posters, and making illustrations for Yiddish-language books. He worked with a publisher of children’s
literature, while at the same time becoming a member of the literary group
“Yung-vilne” (Young Vilna). While in his
school years, he published poems in Yugnt-veker
(Youth alarm) in Warsaw (1922) and in Folkstsaytung
(People’s newspaper) in Warsaw. From
1927 he also published stories and novellas in: Vilner tog (Vilna day) (1927-1939); Yung-vilne (1934-1935); Etyudn
(Studies) in Vilna (1935-1937); Zibn teg
(Seven days) in Vilna (1935-1936); Literarishe
bleter (Literary leaves), Folkstsaytung,
Vokhnshrift far literatur (Weekly
writing for literature), Foroys
(Onward), and Der fraynd (The
friend), among others—in Warsaw; and Forverts
(Forward) in New York, from which he received a prize in 1937 for his story
“Dray shpiglen” (Three mirrors). In book
form: Friling in kelershtub, noveln un
humoreskes (Spring in the basement, stories and humorous sketches), with
drawing by Bentsye Mikhtam (Vilna, 1936), 110 pp.; and children’s stories in
verse: A denkmol baym taykhl (A
monument by the brook) (Warsaw, 1937), 16 pp.; Der vagon (The railroad car) (Warsaw, 1938), 14 pp.; and Di kats dertseylt (The cat recounts)
(Warsaw, 1939), 16 pp.—all with his own illustrations. Using the pen name Ber Sorin, he published
from his own press in Vilna kindergarten booklets: Makhn mir a shneymentsh (Make me a snowman) (1937), 8 pp.; A mayse vegn mayzelekh vayse (A tale of
little white mice) (1937), 8 pp.; and Kitsi
un murele (Kitsi and Murele) (1938), 9 pp.—all with colored
illustrations. Until the German invasion
of Russia in June 1941, he was living in Vilna, where he was politically active
in the leftist labor and cultural movement.
He was the Vilna delegate to the first conference of Yiddish writers in
the Lithuanian Soviet Republic in Kovno (May 1941). In those years he placed work in Vilner emes (Vilna truth), Kovner emes (Kovno truth), the weekly Shtraln (Beams [of light]), and the
anthology Bleter (Leaves) in
Kovno. When the Nazis were approaching
Vilna, he fled on foot to Minsk, and then was confined in the Minsk ghetto,
serving as a liaison between the partisan movement in the forest and the
underground resistance organization in the ghetto. He forged fake Nazi documents and
passports. On March 2, 1942 when the
Nazis led the prisoners from the Minsk jail out to be shot, the commandant
wanted to let him live (Levin was a painter in the Minsk jail), but Levin had
no wish to be exceptional and declined.
He was thus shot to death with his comrades in the prison courtyard. His unpublished stories and poems, his novel Revolutsye 1905 in smargon (The 1905
Revolution in Smargon [Smorgon]), and his play Dos farnumene ort (The occupied place) were all lost during the
Holocaust years. In 1958 a collection of
his children’s stories and verses was published in Warsaw: Kh’vil dertseyln a mayse (I’d like to recount a story), 80 pp.,
with his own illustrations, in which was included portions of his published and
unpublished items. In Di goldene keyt (Golden chain) (Tel
Aviv) 42 (1962), his novella “Shmulyes shtub fort avek” (Shmulye’s household
runs off) was published with notes by A. Sutskever.

He came from Verzhbalove (Virbaln, Virbalis),
Lithuania. He was a small-scale merchant
and follower of the Jewish Enlightenment.
He was also among the first local Ḥoveve-tsiyon (Lovers of Zion). He published stories in Kol mevaser (Herald) in Odessa and Hamagid (The preacher) in Lik, among other serials. He wrote pamphlets in Yiddish with a moral,
such as: Reb moyshele der tsadek, oder der
tsugetrofener shidekh (Reb Moyshele the saintly man, or the desired match),
a “beautiful story” (Vilna, 1881), 68 pp.; Shnay
akhim, oder a mayse shehoye in der lite (Two brother, or a story that
transpired in Lithuania) (Vilna, 1883), 54 pp.
He also published under the pen name MM”L.

He was born in Mohilev, Byelorussia,
the great-grandson of the Mohilev rabbi, R. Khayim Smolyaner. While quite young he demonstrated enormous
diligence in his studies, and at age ten he was holding forth from the
synagogue pulpit. As he grew older, he
began to consult secular books, learned a great deal of Hebrew, and turned his
attention to pedagogy. At that time, he
began writing in Hebrew, and under the influence of Dovid Pinski, he took to
writing in Yiddish as well. He moved to
Warsaw in 1900. On the first Sabbath
there, he read before Perets, Nomberg, and Avrom Reyzen a monologue (“Der oytser”
[The treasure]), which was a big hit.
Bal-Makhshoves saw in him a major literary talent and recommended him to
Dr. Yoysef Lurye, editor of Der yud (The
Jew), in which Levin debuted in print with a story entitled “Dos yoseml” (The
little orphan). He also contributed to Hatsfira (The siren), while publishing
stories in: Der yud, Di velt (The world), and Di yudishe folks-tsaytung (The Jewish
people’s newspaper) which was edited by M. Spektor and Levin’s brother-in-law
Kh. D. Hurvits, as well as in the Hebrew language Hashiloaḥ (The shiloah), Luaḥ aḥiasef,
and Hazman (The time), among other
publications. In 1904 he moved to St.
Petersburg and became a regular contributor to Fraynd (Friend), for which he took charge of the provincial
division. In 1908 he settled in
Vilna. For the Vilna publisher Sh. Y.
Fink, he compiled the holiday magazines: Khanike-blat
(Hanukkah newspaper), Lekoved peysekh
(Honoring Passover), Zangen (Stalks),
and Nay-yor (New year), among
others. He also edited: F. Margolin’s Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper); Der holtshendler (The timber merchant)
(from 1909), a trade newspaper of the timber business and timber industry; and Vilner vokhenblat (Vilna weekly
newspaper) (1909-1914). He also penned
journalistic articles under the pen names: Antik, Dekadent, Der Eygener, A
Fremder, and Even Saadya. During WWI he
worked with F. Margolin’s daily Der
fraynd (The friend) and with Had
hazman (Echo of the times). Later,
after these newspapers ceased publication, he left for St. Petersburg where he
was plenipotentiary for Yekopo (Yevreyskiy komitet pomoshchi zhertvam voyny—“Jewish Relief Committee for War Victims”)
for Mohilev and Smolensk districts. He
was drafted in early 1916 into the Tsarist army, and until the March Revolution
(1917), he was living in Smolensk, later coming to Moscow where he was hired as
a secretary for the Jewish community. As
a writer of the pre-revolutionary generation, for many years Lipman Levin was
unable to adapt to the new conditions under the Soviet regime and wrote next to
nothing. He went on to write original work,
mainly is memoirs from the era of the early twentieth century through WWI,
memories of Y. L. Perets and the writing environments in Warsaw and Vilna, but
not all of these works were published.
In book form he published: Shriftn
(Writings), vol. 1 (Vilna: Shreberk, 1909), 208 pp.; vol. 2 (entitled Elende [Miserable]) (Vilna: Shreberk,
1914), 178 pp.; Or vatsel, sipurim
vetsiyurim (Light and shadow, stories and paintings) (Warsaw: Tushiya,
1903), 85 pp. He also wrote (in Hebrew)
a three-volume novel which he also translated into Yiddish, and it dealt with
the epoch from before the first Russian Revolution, between the two revolutions
of 1917, and then after October 1917.
This work provided the basis for his novels: Doyres dervakhte (Generations awaken), vol. 1 (Moscow: Emes, 1934),
135 pp., vol. 2 (Vilna, 1934), 373 pp.; and Dem
shturem antkegn (Into the storm) (Moscow: Emes, 1939), 310 pp. From these same novels he published the
pieces: Di zorg-bank, proklamatsye (Bank
of worries, proclamation) (Moscow: Emes, 1935), 45 pp.; and Der ershter shtrayk (The first strike)
(1935), 36 pp. (both in the series “Masn-biblyotek” [Library for the masses],
nos. 47 and 48); Merke di pyonerke
(Merke, the pioneer) (Moscow, 1939), 14 pp.; Di konstitutsye oysnveynik (The constitution memorized) (Moscow:
Emes, 1940), 15 pp.; Teg fargangene,
noveln (Days gone by, stories) (Moscow: Emes, 1941), 198 pp. He translated among other works: Maxim Gorky,
Der lezer (The reader [original: Chitatel’]) (Warsaw, 1902); Dzhuzepo garibaldi, der folks-held un
befrayer fun italyen (Giuseppe Garibaldi, the folk hero and liberator of
Italy) (St. Petersburg, 1905), 48 pp.; Lev Osipovich Levanda’s two novels, In shturm (In turbulent times [original:
Goryachee vremya]) (Warsaw: Tsentral,
1912), 435 pp., and A groyser remiz (A
huge fine [original: Bol’shoi
remiz, roman iz kommercheskoi zhizni evreev (A huge fine, a novel from the
commercial life of Jewry)]) (Warsaw: Tsentral, 1914), 331 pp. He also published a translation of Levanda’s Der poylisher magnat (The Polish magnate
[original: Pol’skii magnat]) (Vilna),
63 pp., and other works as well. He did
not write for fifteen years under the Soviets.
Finally, in 1932 he surfaced and began to publish in Soviet journals. During the years of WWII, he was much
weakened and out of date. In 1946 his
seventieth birthday was marked with articles in the Soviet Yiddish press. He died shortly thereafter in Moscow. His body was cremated on April 26. At his funeral, L. Kvitko, Y. Dobrushin, and
Y. Nusinov gave addresses.

She was born in Vilna, the daughter
of a paper merchant. She was deported
from the Vilna ghetto to concentration camps in Latvia and later in
Germany. She was killed in the days of
the camp liberation by rampant Soviet soldiers.
In Lider fun getos un lagern (Songs
of the ghettos and camps), p. 261, Sh. Katsherginski makes note of her song “In
dinaverk” (In Dinaverk), a camp in Latvia.
She died in the Dinaverk concentration camp.

He was born in Lodz, Poland. In 1906 he joined the Labor Zionist party, was
later active in the left wing of the party, and from 1922 was part of the right
Labor Zionists. From 1926 he was a
member of the Labor Zionists-Zionist Socialists in Poland and chairman of their
Lodz committee. He was one of the
builders of the Borokhov School and the Borokhov Collective in Lodz. Until 1939 he lived in Lodz, and thereafter he
was one of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and one of the group that was
rescued by using the underground canals to make it to the Aryan side. He published in: Lodzer folksblat (Lodz people’s newspaper) (1909-1939); Arbeter-tsaytung (Labor newspaper), Bafrayung (Liberation), and Dos vort (The word)—in Warsaw. He contributed to the underground Labor
Zionist-Zionist Socialist press in the Warsaw Ghetto. After liberation he placed work in: Bafrayung and Der morgn (The morning) in Munich (1947-1950). In the collection Varshever geto-oyfshtand (Warsaw Ghetto uprising) (Landsberg, 1947,
pp. 29-36), he published portions of his memoirs under the title “In di teg fun
oyfshtand” (In the days of the uprising), which was reprinted in the Yiddish
press throughout the world. He lived in
Israel from 1945 until his death in Kibbutz Yagur. He was blind during his last years.

Wednesday, 24 May 2017

He was born in Warsaw, Poland. Until age seventeen he studied in a religious
primary school, in the yeshiva of the Chofetz-Chaim in Radin (Raduń),
and in the Lomzhe yeshiva, and through self-study he acquired secular
knowledge. In his youth he became active
in the illegal Bundist organization in Warsaw, was arrested several times by
the Tsarist authorities, spent time in Warsaw and Radom prisons, and was also
exiled to Siberia. Over the years
1912-1916, he lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, working in various trades, and
then he returned, lived in Paris, and from there in 1917, after the outbreak of
the Russian Revolution, he made his way to Russia, lived for a time in Minsk,
and appeared on stage to speak at Bundist meetings. When the Bolsheviks later took power in
Russia (late 1917-early 1918), Levin returned to Warsaw where he was active in
trade unions and political work of the Bund.
He was a member of the central bureau of the Jewish trade unions. He began his journalistic activities with
reportage pieces on workers’ lives in Der
tog (The day) in Buenos Aires (1913).
In 1917 he wrote from time to time in Der veker (The alarm), a daily newspaper of the Bund in Minsk. In Warsaw he was a regular contributor to the
Bundist daily Folks-tsaytung (People’s
newspaper), in which he edited the city’s reportage, the news of the trade
union movement, and also published “Bilder fun der yidisher provints” (Images
from the Jewish hinterland). In early
September 1939, he fled Poland, lived for a time in Vilna and Kovno, where he
wrote a series of description of the first weeks of the war in Poland for Idishe shtime (Jewish voice), which was
republished in New York’s Forverts
(Forward) and other Yiddish newspapers throughout the world. He died of a heart attack in Kovno.

He was a composer, born in
Kimpeling, Bukovine. From 1919 he was
living in Czernowitz. He studied there
in a teachers’ seminary. In 1942 he was
sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
From 1972 he was living in Israel.
He translated from German: Finf lider (Five songs) by the poetess Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger who was murdered
at a young age (Tel Aviv, 1977), 22 pp.; and Lider (Poems), also by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (Tel Aviv,
1978), 88 pp. He authored: In der velt fun gezangen, lider af yidish un
in ivrit, Beolam hazemer (In the world of song,
songs in Yiddish and in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv, 1980), 99 pp., in Yiddish and Hebrew
with Levin’s melodies. He also
translated from Romanian and Russian. He
died in Hertzliya.